It was while assisting Shekhar Kapur on Bandit Queen back in 1991 that Tigmanshu Dhulia first came across a feature on Paan Singh Tomar. Fascinated by the army man-turned-athlete-turned-bandit,the filmmaker went from door to door,proposing the biopic to every producer possible. It wasnt until 2008,when he contacted UTV,that Dhulias dream project took off. Paan Singh Tomar is not a Gandhi to have been chronicled. All I had was the magazine cutting I had read a decade ago. And UTV,merely on the basis of that cutting,decided to fund my research. Who does that in Bollywood? My script could have turned out crap,but the production house stood by me, he says with a satisfied look. Today,the film Paan Singh Tomar,which stars Irrfan Khan in the title role along with Mahie Gill,is nearing completion and is scheduled to release in October. Dhulia,seated in his office,recounts that the toughest part of the project was the research. I didnt know where to start; all I knew was the village he came from. We went there but none of his close relatives were living in the village anymore. Somehow,we met a few surrendered dacoits and thats where our research really took off. We travelled to Ludhiana,Delhi,Chambal,met Milkha Singh who had been his contemporary and other athletes, many of whom now suffer from Alzheimers. The research,though the most intriguing part of Dhulias project,was also the most heartbreaking. The filmmaker saw that most of the aged Olympian athletes were in pitiable state of poverty. The film, he says,is therefore also a tribute to the unsung heroes of Indian sports. As he went on digging about Tomar,Dhulia realised that his story was probably the most tragic. An army man and seven times national champion at steeplechase,Paan Singh would not have died if the authorities had heard him out, he says. He had a land dispute with powerful people in his village,which resulted in his mother and son being brutally beaten up. Tomar approached the village authorities and the police,but in vain. Thats when,having lost faith in the system,he took up arms and became a bandit to seek revenge. His contemporary athletes remembered Paan Singh as a patriot and a jovial chap whod play practical jokes. For him to go the other extreme is tragic. He wouldnt have had to die (in 1982) if someone had heard him out. While the plot is gripping,it centres on sports,a theme that has not succeeded at the box office lately. Also,the fact that Dhulia didnt cast a star in the lead has the film industry speculating Paan Singh Tomar as a high risk project. However,Dhulia is not perturbed. Indian cinema is evolving today and a films success depends on how you budget it, asserts the NID graduate who has earlier made films like Haasil and Charas and written dialogues for Dil Se and Tere Mere Sapne. The 43-year-old filmmaker is also weary of the star system. They dont guarantee you success anymore. And filmmaking becomes secondary when you have to deal with their tantrums and their cavalcade of moms,make-up man,manager and yoga instructor, he laughs. Dhulias next too,hence,is a love story Milan Talkies,with Prateik. But soon after Paan Singh Tomar,Dhulia turns producer with Sahib,Biwi aur Gangster,which will star Gill while the rest of the cast is yet to be finalised. It is time I make some money for myself, he smiles.
